Thomas Bulkowski’s successful investment activities allowed him to retire at age 36. He is an internationally known author and trader with 30+ years of stock market experience and widely regarded as a leading expert on chart patterns. He may be reached at

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The shooting star candlestick comes in two varieties, a single candle line and a two line candle. This page discusses the one candle line. In an uptrend, a small body candle appears with
a tall upper shadow and no lower one (or a very small one). The candle looks like a gravestone doji but it is not a doji because the opening and closing
prices are not the same.

The candle looks as if price has reversed direction. Examining the performance statistics confirms that the shooting star acts as a reversal 59% of the
time. However, I still consider that "near random" performance. Thus, although price reverses more often than not, do not depend on that happening.

Shooting Star: Discussion

Day traders that I know depend on the shooting star more often than I think they should, but my statistics are based on the daily charts, not intra day ones. I found that the shooting
star candle acts as a bearish reversal 59% of the time. I consider that "near random" performance.

The overall performance is a mid list 55, where 1 is best and 103 is worst.
The best average move 10 days after the breakout belongs to shooting stars after an upward breakout in a bear market. Price rises an average of 3.86%. I consider moves of 6%
or more to be good, so the shooting star falls well short. The numbers suggest that this candle looks better than it performs.

Shooting Star: Identification Guidelines

Characteristic

Discussion

Number of candle lines

One.

Price trend leading to the pattern

Upward.

Configuration

Look for a small bodied candle (but not a doji) with little or no lower shadow and a tall upper shadow at least twice the height of the body.

Shooting Star: Three Trading Tidbits

Shooting star candles that appear within a third of the yearly low perform best -- page 663.

For the best performance, select shooting star candles as part of an upward retracement in a downward price trend -- page 664-665.

Shooting stars within a third of the yearly low frequently act as reversals -- page 665.

Shooting Star: Example

Pictured in the daily chart at A is an example of a shooting star that appears as part of a retrace in a downward price trend. Unfortunately, the
downward trend is not a long one, so this is not a perfect example.

Price moves down from the highest peak on the chart, bottoms, and then bounces. A shooting star with a tall upper shadow, no lower one, and a small body appears. The shooting star
signals a change in momentum from up to down with the bulls forcing price to a peak but the bears battling back so that price closes near where it opens. The next day, and in the coming
days, price moves lower.

This is an example of how a shooting star is supposed to work. With the close near the low, it should not take much
for price to breakout downward (a close below the bottom of the candlestick) and yet it does so only 59% of the time.